Do you ever wonder whether our
two-party political system has benefited us?
Would you be surprised to know
that question has plagued us since the early days of the Republic?
Below is President George
Washington’s farewell address. Originally drafted at the end of his first term,
he put it aside upon witnessing the divisiveness between Secretary of Treasury
Hamilton and Secretary of State Jefferson. While the entire text is provided
here, for those pressed for time it is the 370 words
contained in paragraphs 22 through 25 that reveal our first president’s
view on the two-party system.
What would you say to him 217
years later?
Friends and Fellow-citizens:
1.
The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer the
executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time
actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed designating the person,
who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper,
especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice,
that I should now apprize you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being
considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.
2.
I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured that
this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the
considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to
his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my
situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future
interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am
supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.
3.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to
which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of
inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be
your desire. I constantly hoped, that it would have been much earlier in my
power, consistently with motives, which I was not at liberty to disregard, to
return to that retirement, from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The
strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even
led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature
reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with
foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence
impelled me to abandon the idea.
4. I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.
5.
The impressions, with which I first undertook the arduous trust,
were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will
only say, that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the
organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a
very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the
inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more
in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself;
and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that
the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied,
that, if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were
temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that, while choice and prudence
invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
6.
In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate
the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep
acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude, which I owe to my beloved country for
the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast
confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have
thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful
and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have
resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to
your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under
circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable
to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often
discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has
countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the
essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were
effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my
grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you
the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection
may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands,
may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be
stamped with wisdom and virtue; than, in fine, the happiness of the people of
these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so
careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire
to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and
adoption of every nation, which is yet a stranger to it.
7.
Here, perhaps I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare
which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to
that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments
which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and
which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a
people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see
in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have
no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement
to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar
occasion.
8.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your
hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the
attachment.
9.
The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also
now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of
your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace
abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so
highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and
from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to
weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your
political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies
will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously)
directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the
immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness;
that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your
political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous
anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in
any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of
every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to
enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
10.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest.
Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to
concentrate your affections. The name of american, which belongs to you, in
your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more
than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of
difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political
principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the
Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint
efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.
11.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address
themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those, which apply
more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the
most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the
whole.
12.
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South,
protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions
of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise
and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same
intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow
and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the
North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it
contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the
national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength,
to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the
West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior
communications by land and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for
the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West
derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what
is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure
enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight,
influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union,
directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other
tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived
from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion
with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.
13.
While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and
particular interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the
united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource,
proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent
interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable
value, they must derive from Union an exemption from those broils and wars
between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring countries not tied
together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be
sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and
intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the
necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of
government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your
Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love
of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.
14.
These considerations speak a persuasive language to every
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a
primary object of Patriotic desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common
government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to
mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope, that
a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments
for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment.
It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious
motives to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall
not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to
distrust the patriotism of those, who in any quarter may endeavour to weaken
its bands.
15.
In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union, it
occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished
for characterizing parties by Geographical discriminations, Northern and
Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavour to excite a
belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of
the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is
to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield
yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings, which spring
from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those,
who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our
western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen,
in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the
Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that
event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the
suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in
the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the mississippi;
they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great
Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing they could
desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their
prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these
advantages on the union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth
be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their
brethren, and connect them with aliens?
16.
To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the
whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be
an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and
interruptions, which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of
this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption
of a Constitution of Government better calculated than your former for an
intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns.
This Government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed,
adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its
principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy,
and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just
claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority,
compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by
the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our political systems is
the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government.
But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and
authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very
idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government
presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.
17.
All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations
and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to
direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the
constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of
fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation,
the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the
community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to
make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans
digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.
18. However
combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer
popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be
enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the
reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted
them to unjust dominion.
19.
Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of
your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily
discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also
that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however
specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of
the constitution, alterations, which will impair the energy of the system, and
thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to
which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as
necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other human
institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which to test the real
tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes,
upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change,
from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially,
that, for the efficient management of our common interests, in a country so
extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the
perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such
a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest
guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too
feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the
society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the
secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.
20.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the
state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical
discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the
most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party,
generally.
21.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having
its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different
shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but,
in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly
their worst enemy.
22.
The alternate domination of one faction over
another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which
in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is
itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually
incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of
an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more
able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the
purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.
23. Without
looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to
be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of
party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to
discourage and restrain it.
24. It serves
always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration.
It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles
the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and
insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find
a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party
passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the
policy and will of another.
25. There is
an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the
administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of
Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a
Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon
the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments
purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural
tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every
salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought
to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be
quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame,
lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
26.
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free
country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to
confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in
the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The
spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments
in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.
A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which
predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of
this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political
power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and
constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the
others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our
country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute
them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the
constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an
amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no
change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument
of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or
transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.
27.
Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political
prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would
that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and
Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and
to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and
public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property,
for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the
oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let
us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us
to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle.
28.
It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary
spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force
to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can
look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
fabric ?
29.
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a
government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion
should be enlightened.
30.
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish
public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as
possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering
also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much
greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt,
not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of
peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not
ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to
bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is
necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the
performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in
mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have
Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not more
or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment,
inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice
of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of
the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in
the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time
dictate.
31.
Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate
peace and harmony with all. Religion and Morality enjoin this conduct; and can
it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a
free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great Nation, to give to
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an
exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, that, in the course of time and
things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages,
which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be, that
Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its
Virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which
ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices ?
32.
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential, than
that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and
passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of
them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The Nation,
which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is
in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection,
either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.
Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer
insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty
and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence
frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The Nation,
prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government,
contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes
participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason
would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient
to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and
pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of Nations
has been the victim.
33.
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another
produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the
illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common
interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former
into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate
inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite
Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation
making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been
retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate,
in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to
ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the
favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own
country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the
appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public
opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of
ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
34.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such
attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent
Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic
factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to
influence or awe the Public Councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak,
towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of
the latter.
35.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to
believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be
constantly awake; since history and experience prove, that foreign influence is
one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy, to be
useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence
to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one
foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate
to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of
influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the
favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes
usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
36.
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations,
is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little
political connexion as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements,
let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.
37.
Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a
very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the
causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the
ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and
collisions of her friendships or enmities.
38.
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to
pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient
government, the period is not far off, when we may defy material injury from
external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the
neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us,
will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or
war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.
39.
Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our
own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of
any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European
ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?
40.
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with
any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to
do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to
existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to
private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore,
let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion,
it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.
41.
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments,
on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances
for extraordinary emergencies.
42.
Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by
policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an
equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or
preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and
diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing;
establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course,
to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support
them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances
and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to
time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate;
constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for
disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its
independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance,
it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal
favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There
can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from
nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just
pride ought to discard.
[43-50
omitted from some newspaper printings.]
43.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and
affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting
impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the
passions, or prevent our nation from running the course, which has hitherto
marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may
be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now
and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the
mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended
patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your
welfare, by which they have been dictated.
44.
How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided
by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other
evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the
assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be
guided by them.
45.
In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my Proclamation
of the 22d of April 1793, is the index to my Plan. Sanctioned by your approving
voice, and by that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the
spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any
attempts to deter or divert me from it.
46.
After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I
could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the
circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and
interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as
should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and
firmness.
47.
The considerations, which respect the right to hold this conduct,
it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe, that,
according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being
denied by any of the Belligerent Powers, has been virtually admitted by all.
48.
The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any
thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every
nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the
relations of peace and amity towards other nations.
49.
The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best
be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant
motive has been to endeavour to gain time to our country to settle and mature
its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that
degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly
speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
50.
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am
unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects
not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they
may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to
which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope, that my Country will
never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of
my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to
the mansions of rest.
51.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated
by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man, who views it in
the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations; I
anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to
realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my
fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the
ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our
mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
George Washington
United
States - September 17, 1796
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